This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
Duplication Policy section for more information.

Archival processing and preservation of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Photographic
Materials (Series 4) was made possible through a grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH).

The John Edwards Memorial Foundation, which operated 1962-1983, was located at the
University of Calif. at Los Angeles. The foundation's goal was to promote the study
of twentieth-century American folk music. In 1983, the Foundation was dissolved, and
a successor organization, the John Edwards Memorial Forum, was established. Correspondence, chiefly 1964-1982, dealing with everyday business of the John Edwards
Memorial Forum and its predecessor organization, the John Edwards Memorial Foundation.
Letters include subscription, record, reprint, and pamphlet purchase requests, as
well as requests for biographical, historical, and discographical information. Files
relating to record reissues, reprints, and pamphlets contain written descriptions
of much of the material involved. Records of various federal grants are fairly comprehensive,
containing proposal drafts, correspondence, and financial figures. There is little
material about the "JEMF Quarterly" or the "JEMF Newsletter." The photographic materials depict musicians from a variety of musical traditions
circa 1930s-1980s and were originally used to accompany educational materials generated
by the JEMF in the 1970s. Miscellaneous items cover a wide range of subjects, from
testimonials praising the Foundation to checkbook registries, 1963-1979.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records #20001,
Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, with the John Edwards Memorial
Collection, in March 1978. Letter from Irene Edwards received from Daniel Patterson
in May 1989. About 600 additional items were received from Eugene Earle, December
1993, and January-February 1994.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

The John Edwards Memorial Foundation was incorporated in 1962 as a non-profit organization
to promote the study and dissemination of knowledge about American folk music of the
1920s-1940s. John Edwards provided for the Foundation in his 1958 will; it was established
at the University of California at Los Angeles.

The John Edwards Memorial Foundation was a pioneering effort to bring scholarly analysis
to bear on American country music forms. In its first ten years, the Foundation embarked
on several kinds of projects. It began acquiring record collections in 1964, one of
the first being Peter Tamony's collection of early blues or "race music" recordings. In 1965, the Foundation began publishing the
John Edwards Memorial Foundation Quarterly. The
JEMF Quarterly contains biographical articles and discographies relating to folk, blues, and early
country and western music performers. Another publishing venture, begun in the mid-1960s,
was the reprinting of pertinent articles from journals and magazines. With the aid
of federal grant money and private donations, the Foundation encouraged and administered
biographical, cultural, and discographical research.

In 1972-1973, the Foundation started two series of educational materials, publishing
a run of special discographical pamphlets and reissuing rare and old records. These
two projects included both early musicians (such as the Carter Family, Uncle Dave
Macon, Ernest Stoneman) and contemporary performers (like Loretta Lynn and Johnny
Cash).

For the 21 years the Foundation was based at UCLA, it retained essentially the same
directors. The board, elected in 1964, included Eugene Earle, Archie Green, D. K.
Wilgus, Fred Hoeptner, and Ed Kahn. All except Ed Kahn were on the board in 1983.
Eugene Earle, the executor of John Edwards's estate, was chiefly responsible for bringing
John Edwards's record collection to UCLA.

The board agreed to sell the materials at UCLA to the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill in 1983. The directors indicated that they believed the materials would
have more use there and be more effective if housed in the region where the music
was born.

These papers consist of organizational materials, chiefly correspondence; financial
materials, including bank statements, general ledgers, tax statements; project-related
materials such as a grant-funded record reissue project, the
JEMF Quarterly, "Special Series" and reprint publications, and grants administered by the Foundation; and miscellaneous
materials generated or acquired by the Foundation. The collection not only gives researchers
information about the work of the JEMF, but also provides biographical and discographical
information about early folk and country musicians and scholars.

The organizational materials consist chiefly of correspondence between 1964 and 1982
dealing with the everyday business of the Foundation. Letters include subscription,
record, reprint, and pamphlet purchase requests and also requests for biographical,
historical, and discographical information. Among these letters are names significant
in the fields of folklore and country music recording, performance and scholarship
such as Roger Abrahams, Moses Asch, Chet Atkins, B. A. Botkin, Bertrand Bronson, John
Cohen, Norman Cazden, Archie Green, Henry Glassie, John Greenway, Sid Harkreader,
Bess Lomax Hawes, Bruce Jackson, Alan Jabbour, George Korson, Alan Lomax, John D.
Loudermilk, Clayton McMichen, Ralph Page, Ralph Rinzler, Jeff Titon, Earl Scruggs,
Carl T. Sprague, Irwin Silber, Anthony Seeger, Mike Seeger, and Pete Seeger. There
is also correspondence with individuals employed as volunteers, staff, writers, and
advisors to the Foundation.

Financial materials contain bank statements, check registers, ledger sheets and materials
relating to the preparation and completion of state and federal taxes.

The series of files relating to JEMF projects (record reissues, reprints, pamphlets,
grants) contains written descriptions of many of the requests cited in correspondence.
Projects include nine albums issued on the JEMF label, drafts of ?
JEMF Quarterly articles, the JEMF "Reprint" and "Special Series", reviews, and grants awarded to or administered by the Foundation. Records of various
federal grants are fairly comprehensive, containing proposal drafts, correspondence,
and financial figures.

The photographic materials depict musicians from a variety of musical traditions circa
1930s-1980s and were originally used to accompany educational materials generated
by the JEMF in the 1970s. The materials were collected by the John Edwards Memorial
Forum and its predecessor organization, the John Edwards Memorial Foundation.

Organizational records of the Foundation, including correspondence with subscribers,
researchers, collectors, and JEMF advisors; Newsletter and
JEMF Quarterly subscription requests; records of the Annual Meetings of Advisors; correspondence
with donors relating to gifts and donations; JEMF Articles of Incorporation, relations
with UCLA, and the sale of the collection to the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Correspondence relating to certain individuals and foundations have been separated
from the general mass of correspondence for reasons of bulk and/or significance.

Reports, minutes, correspondence, and proxy forms from annual meetings of advisors
1964-1983, excepting the years 1967, 1969, 1970, and 1976. These files contain materials
relating only to individuals as JEMF advisors. Correspondence with the same individuals
in other capacities may be found in correspondence files.

These files are particularly significant in that they trace the history of the JEMF
from its inception to its eventual transfer to UNC. Materials include JEMF's articles
of incorporation (1961), and an article in a North Carolina newspaper marking the
collection's move to Chapel Hill. Correspondence and progress reports documenting
the intervening years of JEMF's relationship with UCLA.

Files also contain legal documents and correspondence regarding the incorporation
of Coal Creek Music, a related (publishing?) organization, and correspondence with
record companies and performers to copyright songs for Coal Creek Music. These files
contain song lyrics and "lead sheets." Others include negotiations with the musicians' union (American Federation of Musicians),
fundraising activities, radio promotion, testimonials praising the JEMF, and the official
JEMF archival procedures manual.

Legal correspondence chiefly related to the Foundation's incorporation. Also bank
statements from 1981-1984, check registers from 1963-1982, ledger sheets from 1975-1983,
a "Detail General Ledger" listing JEMF expenses within the Folklore and Mythology Center of UCLA for 1983 and
1984. Lastly, materials relating to the preparation and completion of state and federal
taxes, including statements of non-profit status.

Bank statements from 1981-1984 from City National Bank of Beverly Hills, circa Check
registers presumedly from the same bank for the period 1963-1982. Cancelled checks
1982-1984. Miscellaneous banking ephemera, petty cash journal, and record of a Certificate
of Deposit due 1979.

Files relating to
JEMF Quarterly articles, the Foundation's Reprint Series (1964-1967) and a "Special Series" of discographical and biographical pamphlets. The
JEMF Quarterly files contain drafts of articles or letters subsequently printed in the
JEMFQ, many by Archie Green, a JEMF board member, folklorist and labor scholar, who wrote
over 60 articles in a "Graphics" series for the journal. Reprint series articles were reprinted with the intention
of disseminating scholarly research on folk and country music beyond the academic
sphere. They were drawn from journals such as the
Journal of American Folklore. The thirteen pamphlets, called "Special Series," issued 1968-1980, contain information about musicians' lives and recordings. These
files include correspondence, orders, and a small amount of discographical and biographical
material.

Files include grants applications not related to previously listed JEMF projects.
They include successful grants administered by the Foundation, non-funded grant applications,
and grants received for review by JEMF director, Norm Cohen.

Images depicting both prominent and little-known musicians from blues, country, folk,
rock, western, and other American genres of music in the United States between the
1930s and 1980s. Materials were both collected by and given to the Foundation throughout
its existence and used in their publications. Whenever present, relevant original
descriptions and individual identifications have been transcribed and are included
in descriptions.